Monday, September 1, 2014

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Universal 1943) Universal Home Video

Universal went
all the way back into its own antiquity, digging up Gaston LeRoux’s celebrated
tale of death stalking the Paris opera house for Arthur Lubin’s lavishly
appointed Phantom of the Opera
(1943); a spectacular, even mind-boggling excursion in glorious Technicolor,
alas, predestined to utterly fail in its primary objective – to thrill. The
original 1925 Phantomstarring Lon Chaney had been a phenomenal success for
the studio. But this remake proved problematic on several levels. First,
LeRoux’s classic was heavily tampered with by screenwriters Eric Taylor and
Hans Jacoby in their attempt to showcase some gargantuan production numbers
composed by Edward Ward, who basically took operatic masterworks already in
public domain, re-orchestrating them with newly written lyrics.

Alas, Universal’s
decision to transform the macabre tale into a horror/musical hybrid was further
encouraged after the studio had secured the talents of baritone, Nelson Eddy
and soprano, Susannah Foster to costar as the ill-fated lovers. By this time,
Eddy’s popularity had cooled at MGM, particularly after the end of his pairings
with their resident soprano, Jeanette MacDonald. He had sincerely hoped Phantom of the Operawould
reestablish his imminence in the musical milieu. Although in fine voice, Eddy
remained true to his own limited appeal as an actor, more wooden than dynamic
and suffering from the added folly of having to play a rather foppish romantic
suitor who never entirely wins the heart of this tale’s dreamy-eyed, though
decidedly fickle princess.

Yet, in Claude
Rains’ phantom (herein rechristened Erique Claudin) the film succumbed to an
even more self-conscious performance, threatening to sink the enterprise.
Rains, a superb actor elsewhere in his repertoire, herein somehow manages to
make the least of his part. It’s odd too, because Rains had already played a
superb villain in Universal’s The
Invisible Man (1933), exploiting his mellifluous vocal range with
exceptional dexterity. But in Phantom
he begins as a rather unsympathetic soul, thoroughly misguided in his ambitions
to elevate aspiring singer, Christine Dubois (Susannah Foster) from the chorus.
In the original draft, Christine was Erique’s illegitimate offspring from a
clandestine affair. Alas, censorship of the day precluded this back story from
ever seeing the light of day; screenwriters Samuel Hoffenstein, Hans and John
Jacoby and Eric Taylor simply choosing to omit any explanation as to why a
middle-age, near penniless violinist should choose to spend all his hard-earned
money on the education of this winsome ingénue. However, in this light, Erique’s
obsessive fascination with Christine managed to acquire an even more perverse –
and unintentional – double-entendre, along the lines of a May/December infatuation
with a whiff of the lascivious and depraved.

It also didn’t
help this remake the Production Code was forbidden from revealing the more
obvious gruesomeness that had helped Chaney’s phantom yield its carte blanche
shrieks of terror, particularly during the phantom’s climactic unmasking. As
such, this new Phantom of the Opera
became a rather tame excursion, the chills taking the proverbial backseat to
Alexander Golitzen’s resplendent production design. Because Universal never
bothered to film its trademark glass globe with the iconic ‘Universal’ logo
circling around it in Technicolor, Phantom of the Opera opens without this memorable fanfare; a rather
lackluster title card reading ‘Universal
Presents’ inserted before the opening credits instead.

As scripted,
Erique (Rains) is a violinist with the opera company who has lost all feeling
in the fingers of his left hand. Unbeknownst to the management or even the
benefactress of his philanthropy, Erique has spent virtually all his money
anonymously to fund Christine Dubois’ musical education. Dismissed from the
opera’s orchestra, Erique becomes increasingly desperate for money. To continue
Christine’s patronage, Erique approaches the music publishers, Pleyel and
Desjardins with a concerto he has toiled on for many months.

After several
days, Erique returns to inquire about his piece. He is rudely ordered from the
premises by an irritated and preoccupied Monsieur Pleyel (Miles Mander).
Hearing his composition being played in the next room by Franz List (Fritz
Leiber), Erique assumes the publishers have stolen his music for their own.
Enraged, Erique attacks and murders Pleyel.
His assistant, Georgette (Renee Carson) retaliates by throwing acid in
Erique’s face, thus horribly disfiguring him for life. The wounded Erique takes
to the sewers beneath the city and later, finds his way to the Paris opera
where he steals a prop mask to conceal his hideously scorched flesh.

All-consumed
with his protégée, Erique now vows to make her a great star. Topside, Christine
is wooed by two men; baritone Anatole Garron (Nelson Eddy) and the amiable
police inspector Raoul D’Aubert (Edgar Barrier). The two are cordial, though
jealous, rivals for the chanteuse’s affections.
To secure his soft spot in Christine’s heart, the phantom decides to
murder Mme. Biancarolli (Jane Farrar), the pompous diva who is standing in the
way of Christine rising to the top of her profession. Alas, this heinous act
sends the entire opera company into a panic, with Raoul setting into motion a
plan of action to snuff out the phantom.

Refusing to
let Christine sing, Raoul has List play Erique’s concerto. The phantom murders
one of Raoul’s officers and then takes to the vaulted auditorium ceiling,
cutting loose its massive chandelier and causing it to plummet into the
audience. Amidst the chaos, Erique reveals himself to Christine as her most
ardent admirer. He steals her away into the bowels of the opera house. But his
hideous visage frightens Christine and she screams, alerting Raoul and Anatole
to their whereabouts. The phantom is confronted by both men and destroyed. In
the final moments, Christine is seen pursuing another suitor, leaving Anatole
and Raoul to set aside their mutual jealousies and walk away together, arm and
arm as friends.

It is
exceedingly difficult not to admire this Phantom
of the Opera as it remains an ultra-glamorous affair. W. Howard Greene and Hal Mohr’s eye-popping
and sumptuous cinematography is a visual feast for the eye. Vera West’s costumes are quite simply
gorgeous. And Edward Ward’s musical re-orchestrations truly take on the flavor
of legitimate opera; virtually indistinguishable from the real thing to the
untrained ear. But it’s the story that so utterly lacks in spirit and spark –
this phantom relegated to skulking the dank sewers, seedy alleys and gloomily
lit byways, glimpsed in evaporating shadows racing along the wall and only
momentarily made a figure – not of great human tragedy – but maniacal and vial
retributions inflicted on the unsuspecting and undeserving of his wrath. This
phantom is not to be pitied, but feared – a miscalculation from which the movie
never entirely recovers.

As the
isolated figure, alone and friendless, plotting his supreme revenge from within
the bowels of the Paris opera house, Claude Rains never assuages beyond a level
of cloying menace; seemingly too much the gentleman to be evil incarnate. To be
sure, Rains had played bad boys before. His Alexander Sebastian in 1946’s Notorious is as disreputable as he is
sly and calculating. But Rains’ phantom shares none of these more wicked
attributes. He’s tyrannical, plotting and venomous – in short – wholly
unlikable. The best movie villains are those we love to hate. Regrettably,
Rains phantom is someone we just wish would go away. Nevertheless, there is
lots to admire in this version of the time-honored tale and since Rains is all
but obfuscated behind the love story, the music and a myriad of gargantuan sets
and costumes, we can overlook – if hardly forgive – the movie for failing to
tingle our spines. But in the grand scheme of Phantoms revisited, this
one’s more an anomaly than a bona fide part of the respected canon in screen
incarnations.

Universal Home
Video’s re-release of Phantom of the
Opera, with uninspired cover art – no less - on Blu-ray is good, though not
great. The image infrequently suffers from minor Technicolor mis-registration.
When the image is properly aligned we get a profoundly regal, and rather
stunning presentation with so much visual splendor on tap one can simply sit
back and bask in the sumptuousness of the exercise. Regrettably, this makes the
momentary lapses into ever-so-slight blurriness all the more obvious. Contrast
is superior to anything we’ve ever seen before and fine details pop with
breathtaking clarity. Given the infrequency of the aforementioned alignment
problem it is a genuine shame Universal did not go back to tinker with the
negative and fix these issues. But there it is and remains on this stand-alone
offering – another catalogue title excised from Universal’s Classic Monsters
box set released two years before.

The audio is
DTS mono, yielding a stunning amount of aural refinement. Extras include a
comprehensive ‘making of’ that covers not only the enduring popularity of
Gaston LeRue’s novel, but also touches on the stage incarnations, the various
film adaptations and also provides good background info on the making of this
film. Universal also gives us a comprehensive audio commentary, and the Digital HD UV option, their main reason for repackaging this disc yet again. Ho-hum! Oh well, what’s here is solidly put together. Good stuff – mostly
– and overall recommended.

About Me

Nick Zegarac is a freelance writer/editor and graphics artist. He holds a Masters in Communications and an Honors B.A in Creative Lit from the University of Windsor.
He is currently a freelance writer and has been a contributing editor for Black Moss Press and is a featured contributor to online's The Subtle Tea. He's also has had two screenplays under consideration in Hollywood.
Last year he finished his first novel and is currently searching for an agent to represent him.
Contact Nick via email at movieman@sympatico.ca